Doctors without Borders criticized Johnson & Johnson today for refusing to make patents on three HIV drugs available to a program that would reduce the cost of the medicines in developing countries.

Johnson & Johnson holds key patents on rilpivirine, which is being developed as a first-line HIV treatment. It also has patents on darunavir and etravirine, two medicines that treat patients who have become resistent to their medicines.

High prices on new medicines force HIV patients in the poorest parts of the world to take older, more toxic drugs and leave them with few options if they become resistant to their existing treatments.

"Johnson & Johnson has a unique opportunity to transform this situation,’’ said Sophie Delaunay, a spokeswoman for the international medical humantarian group. "Instead it has chosen to turn its back on these patients.’’

In an e-mail today, the New Brunswick-based healthcare giant said it preferred to provide access to its compounds through agreements with generic manufacturers.

One of its latest agreements was announced in February.

Johnson & Johnson’s Tibotec subsidiary agreed to provide three generic drug makers with rights to manufacture and distribute lower-priced versions of rilpivirine. The agreement is designed to provide the medicine to parts of sub-Saharan Africa, which has about 68 percent of the world’s total HIV population.

But Doctors without Borders said the agreement isn’t enough

Judit Rius, the U.S. manager of the organization’s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, said among the agreement’s flaws is its restrictiveness. The agreement covers only part of Africa and while it lowers prices, Rius said it doesn’t provide enough of a reduction for the people it is targeting.

"We think there is a better way to do it," she said.

Doctors without Borders created its medicines patent pool to provide access to more affordable versions of HIV treatments, including formulations that offer multiple drugs in one pill and medicines for children. The pool works by licensing patents to a variety of drug manufacturers and creating enough competition to drive prices down.

Roche and Gilead agreed to help the medicines patent pool, Rius said, but Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb, along with Johnson & Johnson, refused to participate.

Rius said Doctors without Borders is focusing its criticism on Johnson & Johnson because the company has "important HIV drugs.’’